It is virtually impossible today to pick up an Israeli newspaper or access an Israeli news site without reading about the army service, or more precisely, the non-service, of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews.
In fact, there are large disparities in service among a variety of groups in Israel.
Is there any scientific basis for these disparities?
In sociology, there is a rule known as “the Pareto Principle,” named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923).
This rule is based on an observation that in most social interactions, a small minority of inputs, typically assumed to be 20%, produces a large majority of the outputs, typically assumed to be 80%.
This may be a positive output, such as 20% of workers in a company producing 80% of the results. It may be negative, as in 20% of cigarette smokers consuming 80% of all cigarettes smoked. The exact percentages may change, but the principle is well established that small inputs produce large outputs.
The IDF does not deviate from this principle. Only a small proportion of soldiers are engaged in front-line combat, not more than 10-12%, though some people estimate far less. These are infantry, tanks, and reconnaissance.
Combat support, often defined to include artillery, engineers, signals, logistics, and field intelligence, is a higher number than the combat soldiers, but still the great majority of the army, at least 70%, is general and administrative.
A small proportion of soldiers, no more than 30%, is engaged in the majority of the fighting. This is also true of conscription rates among Israeli Jews.
Uneven contributions in practice: Israel’s combat burden
It is most definitely not true that each city, region, or social class produces roughly the same number and type of soldiers.
National-Religious men consider conscription an act of service to God, and their rate of conscription is over 90% – essentially, everyone who can serve, does. Among secular Jews, the rate, by varied accounts, is about 70-80%.
It is often said that “haredi Jews do not serve,” but that, is of course, untrue, since anyone in a major city can observe ultra-Orthodox men sporting uniforms and rifles. Different accounts estimate haredi service at 9%, 10%, 12%, or even 15%, but still far below the rates of other Jews.
Is this bad? According to the Pareto Principle, there will always be major disparities, no matter how we try to change things.
Or let’s look at this from another perspective. In the current war – October 7, 2023, to present – four groups in Israeli society have suffered combat deaths far beyond their proportions in Israel’s population.
These are:
(1) Ethiopian Jews enlist at a 90% rate, about the same as the National-Religious. Ethiopian Jews comprise 1.8% of the population but have absorbed 40 of the 956 soldiers killed, about 4.2%, meaning that their ratio of combat deaths to share of the population is over 2:1.
(2) Jews living in the West Bank (excluding Jerusalem), who comprise about 5% of the population, have absorbed 16% of combat deaths, a ratio of about 3:1.
(3) Jews living on kibbutzim or moshavim, which are overwhelmingly secular, comprise about 6% of the population. According to Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, they have absorbed 184 combat deaths out of the total of 956, or 19%, which is a bit over 3:1.
(4) National-Religious Jews, who comprise about 12% of the adult population, have absorbed 45% of the combat deaths, a ratio of almost 4:1.
In other words, about 25% of the population in these four groups have absorbed 84% of the combat deaths. This is precisely an example of the Pareto Principle in action.
But the reaction to different groups has not been the same. Many people recognize the sacrifices of National-Religious and rural secular Jews.
Fewer recognize the sacrifices of Jews from Judea and Samaria, and I have never heard, read, or seen even one word of praise, encouragement, or consolation to the Ethiopian Jews.
Conversely, haredi Jews are castigated every day.
Moreover, secular urban Jews, who comprise about 65% of the population, do serve, but far less in combat units than they did in the past or in proportion to their share of the population. Many of the secular urban Jews prefer, when possible, to serve in intelligence or technological units.
What to make of all this? First, we are not in a competition for praise or for blame. Each group in Israel contributes to the whole in its own particular way. Second, nevertheless, we have been very deficient in recognizing the sacrifices of some groups, particularly Jewish settlers and Ethiopian Jews.
Third, most Jews in Israel feel the haredi service rate is too low, but to aim for a forced “equality of service” is insensible. Such an effort ignores the essence of the Pareto Principle, which is that different groups value different things and will therefore contribute in different ways.
Issues related to army service – Who serves? In what positions? For how long? – will occupy Israeli society for years to come. That is entirely appropriate, because these issues are vital to the survival of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
But as we define the goals and engage in discussion, we must remember that in any society, different groups will contribute in different ways. This is a general truth of human nature to which the name Pareto Principle has been attached.
The principle does not determine exactly who will serve in the military, but it definitely sets limits as to what is realistically achievable. We should keep that in mind as this issue appears again and again in the public eye.
The writer is a lawyer in Israel and a frequent commentator on social affairs.